The Marlborough disappeared in the year 1890 (like the Marie Celeste only 18 years earlier). Nearly a quarter of a century later she was discovered, still afloat, with the skeletons of her crew strewn across the decks. How had she kept afloat all those years without being spotted?

Dazedly, the captain of the Johnston (on boat, left) took it all in, the glistening woodwork, the trailing tentacles of seaweed, the rotting ropes.

Original artwork for illustration on pp38-39 of Look and Learn issue non 552 (12 August 1972).